Kin of those killed in Pulwama attack got compensation of up to ₹2.94 cr: Govt

The Pulwama attack on February 14, 2019, was one of the deadliest in Jammu and Kashmir and brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war

The kin of the 40 paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel killed in the 2019 Pulwama attack were paid compensation ranging from ₹1.56 crore to ₹2.94 crore, Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai told Parliament on Wednesday.

In February 2019, 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber drove a car laden with explosives into their convoy. (PTI)

Rai listed the jobs given or the status of those offered to the kin of each CRPF trooper. He said the compensation included the money families of the 40 got from the Union, state governments as well as donations from individuals and corporates.

Rai said the kin of the soldiers were given jobs in different sectors. They included lower-division government jobs in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. In many cases, requests were made for jobs to the sons of the personnel after they attain the age of 18 in the force. One trooper’s widow was given a job in the Punjab Police as a constable. Another is working as a clerk at the deputy commissioner’s office in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra.

On February 14, 2019, 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber drove a car laden with explosives into their convoy when it was passing through Lethpora in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district. The attack was one of the deadliest in Jammu and Kashmir and brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war. It prompted a new standard operating protocol for the movement of security forces.

CRPF plans to build a memorial to the 40 soldiers at a hilltop in Pulwama. A two-acre site has been identified and the force has floated an expression of interest for executing the project. Officials said that the proposed memorial would be one of the biggest in Kashmir.